


A Little Murder Between Friends

by james



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 00:57:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4284549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam likes being an Avenger, and he likes Steve.  The crows like Steve, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Little Murder Between Friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oanja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oanja/gifts).



Sam had decided that it was nice being an Avenger – if by nice you meant fucking awesome. Nothing really big and nasty had gone down yet, which Sam knew would be all he'd need to wipe the shine off the awesome. But for now he was taking advantage of the relative peace and quiet, and loving his new job. He loved training with the other Avengers and he loved how he felt like he fit with the team and he loved knowing he was going to be on the front lines to help save the whole damn world when it needed saving.

Right at the moment he was enjoying the running path that edged the lake north of the Avengers' base. Most of the path was shielded by trees and one or two artfully placed invisibility shields so no one would notice people taking a jog in what was supposed to be the middle of uninhabited nowhere. Sam and Steve were the only ones out there today – Natasha had taken the others up into the woods in the other direction, wanting to work on hunt-and-tag survival skills. Sam had begged off, claiming since he'd be training with Steve later, being thrown around the gym by a supersoldier would be enough training for one day. (Natasha had just smirked at him and Sam hadn't had a chance to tell her he meant _actual_ training and working in the gym, but it was probably just as well because he always just dug himself in deeper whenever he tried talking that smirk off her face.)

So the rest of them were out in the woods pretending to be fighting for their lives and Sam was enjoying himself a peaceful jog and trying not to let himself think, over and over, _Holy crap I'm an Avenger._

It maybe hadn't quite sunk in yet. He loved it, hell yes, but it still took him by surprise to wake up and know that his job was to save the world. How fucking awesome was that.

Nothing wrong with his old life; he'd loved his old job at the VA, there was no denying that. Helping folks was what he'd been doing his entire adult life. But there were others who could do the counseling and social work – and even if the VA didn't have enough funding to do everything it needed to do, apparently all Sam had to do about that little problem was casually vent about it to Rhodes.

Not that it was Rhodes' fault. Sam hadn't quite got used to what it meant to hang out at Avengers Tower, back before they'd relocated to their new base upstate. But Sam had just been shooting the shit with Rhodes, a man who understood practically every damn word out of Sam's mouth and all the ones not said besides. So he'd mentioned casually how he didn't mind leaving DC, didn't mind leaving his job, but he minded how he wasn't going to be able to help Joey get into the community college program and how Mav wanted to open a nursery like her folks had run when she'd been a kid only the banks weren't giving out loans to vets who had to be heavily medicated to cope with their PTSD. The VA did what it could, but everyone knew where the money tended to go and it wasn't to the veterans who came back in pieces.

Rhodes explained to him afterwards that you couldn't "casually" mention anything in range of Tony's hearing when the solution was simply throw money at it, because that, according to Rhodes, was Stark's real superpower. So now there was a foundation in DC that was geared towards loans and scholarships and God knew what else, all to "ease the financial burden" of veterans trying to put their lives back together.

Sam tried casually mentioning that he'd always wanted to own an Ecosse motorcycle, but Steve had been standing right there at the time and he'd punched Tony in the arm, making him drop his phone, before Stark could place an order for him. There'd been some yelling and hand-waving while Sam had tried to point out that no, he'd really meant it, then Steve had started yelling at him because apparently that meant Tony was _really going to get him one_ and Sam had yelled back that it was better than driving a ten year old Honda Accord with questionable suspension and no working A/C.

There was a rumor that the real reason the Avengers had moved upstate was a token effort to get them out of Tony's tower and away from his "bad" influences. Sam didn't mind, because badass motorcycle or not, the Avengers weren't hurting for badass equipment. (He pointedly didn't say anything to Steve when Falcon's newest set of wings came in and there was a tiny embossed "Ecosse" on the tip of one feather. No, he did not say a damn word, though he may have forced Steve to watch him test his wings out for several hours. Steve either hadn't noticed or simply had decided not to mention it.)

Sam loved his new wings and he wondered if, when his jog was over, he could convince Steve to forgo the gym and head out so he could test out his wings _again._ Then he heard a faint noise behind him and he started counting down the seconds.

"On your left!"

He glared hard at Steve's back as he sprinted past, and yelled, "You think you're funny! You're not funny!" 

Steve didn't bother to acknowledge him, just kept running as though he was actually in a damn hurry to be somewhere. Sam kept to his normal pace, ignoring the stupid supersoldier who was going to sprint around the entire goddamn lake and would pace Sam again in about fifteen minutes. 

He thought about tripping him up, but every time he'd actually tried it Steve had just leapt over Sam's leg then turned around, jogged backwards, and given him that look which said Sam Wilson had disappointed Captain America. Natasha had just nodded when he'd started to describe it, and offered him a beer.

Now, though, Sam was coming around the bend where the lake came up against a field. There were some rocks near the edge and Sam could see Steve sitting down, watching him – no doubt with that grin on his face as he tried to think of stupid jokes about Sam's speed. As Sam watched, a crow dove near Steve's head and he ducked, turning to watch it fly off. His body language said he was alert but not tense like he was expecting this to be some weird Hydra assault. Sam nodded.

A second crow swooped past him and Steve ducked the other way.

Then a third crow landed on the rock beside him and stared up at him. Sam could see how Steve was staring back, his shoulders set like it might be some kind of attack, even if not Hydra. But the crows were clearly just acting interested, checking to see if Steve had been smart enough to bring something for them to eat or to steal.

As Sam jogged closer, a fourth crow landed near Steve, and then a fifth.

A sixth one landed on Steve's head. Sam laughed, nearly losing his footing as Steve seemed to be trying not to scream and yell and fling the bird off. Sam was getting close enough to see Steve's expression, confused and bewildered and – okay now he was glaring at Sam.

Sam grinned and suddenly five more crows landed on Steve. Arms, shoulders, legs – one hopped onto his foot and perched there, flapping her wings at him. Sam jogged up and came to a stop a few feet away.

"Is this really--" Steve began, and two more crows landed and began vying for a good spot on his left shoulder. 

"Did you bring them anything?" Sam asked. "You know how crows are. You give them a present one time and they never forget." He crossed his arms and pointedly didn't say the word 'bread crumbs.' He'd tried telling Steve the first time, when they'd been jogging like normal except for how Steve was actually jogging beside him and not sprinting around the lake in ten minutes flat. Steve had said he'd noticed the flock every time they'd come jogging and he thought maybe they'd appreciate it, and he'd pulled out a bag of bread crumbs.

"For the rest of your damn life, they are going to be expecting you to bring them shit," Sam said, just like he'd said that time, and every time since.

Steve looked at him, eyes big and shiny and like every Norman Rockwell painting in existence. He was covered in crows, all starting to loudly demand their goodies.

Sam took out his phone and snapped a picture or two. He sent them to Nat, who he knew would take care of forwarding it to everyone who needed to see this. Steve just kept puppy-dog eyeing at him, though he was being careful not to move much and jostle the crows.

"I just thought," Steve began, and one of the crows on his shoulder cawed loudly in his ear. Steve winced.

"You're a menace," Sam told him, and he went over, easing his way past the crows. He leaned down and gave Steve a kiss.

Then he stepped back, turned, and headed back to the path.

"What-- what the fuck, Wilson!" Steve shouted at him.

"Maybe they'll give me a head start!" Sam shouted back and he ran down the path.

He didn't think Steve _couldn't_ catch up with him, of course, not even with a good head start. But maybe they'd be nice enough to keep Steve there on the rock for another half an hour, so Sam could get back to the base first. 

Maybe they'd keep him there all afternoon and Natasha could be the one to go rescue him.

He heard a loud flutter of wings and the crows' caws as they took to the air. Seconds later, Steve's footsteps were pounding closer, then Sam felt arms going around his waist, lifting him into the air.

"If you dump me in the lake, I'm canceling my training session with you and I'm going to hole up in the labs with Christine."

"Fine," Steve said, and he slung Sam over his shoulders and began walking.

Sam left him to it, though after a moment he poked Steve in the ass. Then he poked him again. "I've seen it naked and I still don't believe it's real," he muttered.

"If you keep doing that, you won't be seeing it naked for a very long time."

"Says you," Sam said, and he poked Steve in the gluteus maximus. 

"Fine," Steve said, and began jogging. Sam shifted a bit to keep Steve's shoulder from punching the air out of his gut with every step, then absolutely did not settle in to enjoy the view and the fact he didn't have to finish his run.

When they got back to base, Sam's training session with Steve in the gym was cancelled, and the surveillance video from outside Rogers' quarters showed that Sam – still over Steve's shoulders -- was poking a series of dots in Steve's ass, in the outlined shape of a crow.

The next day, when Sam went out jogging alone, he took a bag of bread crumbs and a picture of Steve, and set the two down on the rock together.

Who said crows weren't the smartest birds on the entire planet.

**Author's Note:**

> If you are familiar with Sam Wilson from the comics, the answer is yes, Sam totally asked the crows to do it. But they also want Steve to bring them treats again.


End file.
